South Carolina metal behemoths, Nile, wound their way to our shores for the first time in over two and half years to lay customary waste to the UK’s metal hordes.

Daniel Cairns was on sentry duty in Highbury, London, and not only sent back this report, but spoke to lead general Karl Sanders about the perilous effects of modern technology on the ancient arts of death metal demon-summoning. Check out the video and live review below!

NILE

EX DEO/SVART CROWN

THE GARAGE, LONDON

SVART CROWN [8] are yet another example of just how far ahead of the pack the French are when it comes to extreme metal. They’re clearly indebted to the discordant likes of Deathspell Omega and Celeste, but they’re also adept at throwing in some beastly Gojira-style grooves too, for when you feel like a bit of a dance. There’s a good turnout for them, and their momentum will only increase. It’s a smashing set, and the bass is absolutely devastating, every thump of the instrument, eliciting a rattle in the chest. EX DEO [8] are a more simplistic and much sillier affair, but by god, they’re fun. It’s genuinely difficult to dislike any band when they come out dressed as Roman Legionnaires and sing songs about fighting and battles. It’s like a heavy metal musical version of Spartacus, without the gore and gratuitous nudity obviously, but still. There’s some excellently heavy metal posing by frontman Maurizio Iacono, as he wails stuff like ‘Hold the line’ and ‘You killed my father’. There’s a fantastic response from the Garage crowd, fists bumping in unison.

NILE [9] come out to an intro track that isn’t a million miles away from the theme of ex-WWE wrestler Goldberg, before going on the warpath. Basically, they sound absolutely devastating tonight. Messrs Sanders and Toller Wade know it too, as a giant, shit-eating grin spreads across Karl’s face constantly. They’re excellent on record obviously, but seeing them live is a different matter altogether. Their mummified, balls to the wall, death metal attack is jaw-dropping in its sheer smothering brutality, even invoking a completely un-ironic throwing up of the metal horns. Highlights include a churning, vicious sounding Sarcophagus and Ithyphalic, featuring the unlikely singalong, ‘Anoint my phallus with the blood of the fallen’. Lovely stuff.

Fourteen minutes, crushed and maimed for your manic pleasure. Italian death experimentalists Humangled have essentially been in and out of the scene since 1996 with primary components Andrew Goreds and Luke Scurb representing the original incarnation of the band. Returning in 2006 and bulking up to a five-piece to conjure their 2010 full-length debut, Fractal, the new Humangled has quickly won praise in the death underground. This year, Humangled serves up an oscillating four song EP, Odd Ethics, and the praise continues to be heaped upon this band.

It’s pretty easy to see why with Humangled’s beastly riffs and gutsy swerves into doom, black metal, rawk, cowpunk and Pantera-esque proto power measures. To call Humangled a death metal band is accurate, yet it’s not. Andrew Goreds huffs his esophagus dry while Luke Scurb and Vhell Miscarriage shred the bejeesus out of their lines. Bassist Frank Hichols and drummer Fred Valdaster are total madmen of their positions. All of it combined to spew death metal mayhem as you like it, but there’s a twisted unpredictability to Odd Ethics that keeps you hitting the repeat button.

“Needles of the Blind” may have you thinking it’s going to settle into mere blasting modes, but then you’re redirected into a doom-heavy breakdown followed by an uptempo bit of shitkicking on the choruses. This spills into the following track, “Skinned, To Feel All,” a nasty bit of business with a Southern boogie kick operating as the primary groove. “Skinned, To Feel All” then shifts tones with crunky choruses and horror dirges, feeling like Pantera-meets-Botch-meets-Death.

“Smells Acrid” steps on the gas with some gnarly double-hammer plus a gory mix of Cannibal Corpse and the barest whiffs of Celtic Frost and dare we say, even Voivod. Signature swaps galore here, but nothing compared to the final track, “Deny Your Creed.” The proggy intro is hardly indicative of where the song is actually headed. Even the first bar of the song gives no real hint, either. This one is a complex metal stew filled with more variables than its base meat and potatoes. There are many extra spices to Humangled’s molten gravy on “Deny Your Creed,” which they stir up and let their listeners try to discern each component as they can.

There are random bits of choppiness to Odd Ethics yet the songs are still written well. They challenge, engage and defy categorical segregation. If this group tightens up just another hair on the next go-round, then get the hell out of their way…